1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conveyor system for conveying cash, deposit slip, pass-book or the like in accordance with a so-called drive-up banking system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Drive-in banking facilities by means of which bank customers may transact their business without any necessity for leaving their cars have become increasingly popular particularly in western countries in recent years. These banking facilities are typically constructed such that several lanes of car tracks are arranged so as to allow the same number of cars as that of the lanes to enter there and stop at the position located by an island at which customers transact their business such as depositing, drawing or the like simultaneously with the aid of individual conveyor line while they stay in their cars. The conventional banking facilities as described above are operated using pneumatic power or vacuum. One of them as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,684 is operated under the influence of vacuum but a problem is pointed out that the facility is installed and operated at an expensive cost due to necessity for assuring vacuum tightness throughout the whole length. Another one is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,824 which was invented for so-called drive-in banks with a plurality of endless belt conveyor lines being employed therefor.
To facilitate understanding of the present invention it will be helpful that the last-mentioned conventional banking facility will be briefly described below.
In FIG. 1 reference numeral 1 designates a window fitted to the building of a bank and reference numerals 2, 3 and 4 do a customer station respectiyely which is disposed on each of islands 5, 6 and 7 which are spaced from one another by a distance equal to the width of a car. The bank includes teller stations 8, 9 and 10 which are interconnected to the customer stations 2, 3 and 4 by way of vertical hollow columns 11, 12 and 13, horizontally extending hollow beams 17, 18 and 19 and another vertical hollow columns 14, 15 and 16. In each of the vertical hollow columns and the hollow beams a conveyance mechanism as illustrated in FIG. 2 is housed. Specifically, reference numeral 21 designates a deposit box operatively held between an opposing pair of endless conveyor belts 22 and 23 adapted to be driven in the same direction by means of a pair of motors 24 and 25 via endless belts 26 and 27 and pulleys 28 and 29. A plurality of idle rollers 30 and 31 rotatably disposed in the vertical section of the conveyance mechanism are arranged in a zigzag relation so as to allow them to come in rolling contact with the endless conveyor belts 22 and 23. It should be noted that distance between the adjacent idle rollers 30 and 31 is dimensioned a little longer than the length of the deposit box 21. Further, an endless conveyor belt 32 is extended through the horizontal section so as to form an arcuate end part in the proximity of the vertical section. As will be apparent from the drawing, the endless conveyor belt 32 is adapted to be driven by means of a motor 33 via an endless belt 34 and a pulley 35. A pair of conveyance mechanisms are provided at both the intersected positions defined by, for instance, the vertical hollow columns 11 and 14 and the horizontally extending hollow beam 17 so that a deposit box 21 is carried from the customer station 2 to the teller station 8 and vice versa. During conveyance of the deposit box 21 through the vertical hollow columns 11 and 14 it is forced to perform snake motion under the influence of thrusting force given by the idle rollers 30 and 31 so that it is transferred from either of the vertical hollow columns 11 and 14 to the horizontally extending hollow beam 17.
However, the above-described endless belt conveyor type conventional banking facility has a problem that a number of driving motors and idle rollers are required and therefore the facility is installed and operated at an expensive cost. Further, another problem is that due to snake motion of the deposit box during conveyance it is displaced at a reduced conveyance speed and transferrence from the vertical hollow column to the horizontally extending hollow beam and vice versa fails to be smoothly effected sometimes, resulting in increased possibility of occurrence of malfunction.
The length of the horizontally extending hollow beams is determined in dependence on the distance between the teller station and the island and in practice they are cut to the predetermined length in a manufacturing factory prior to shipping therefrom. Thus it cannot be adjusted at the position in a bank where the facility is to be installed.
As the number of islands increase, the number of vertical hollow columns and horizontally extending hollow beams increases correspondingly. However, to assure that each of customers in cars at the customer stations is visually recognized from the teller room without fail there is necessity for enlarging a distance between the adjacent vertical hollow columns at the customer stations. Therefore, as the distance increases, it is naturally required that a distance between the adjacent vertical hollow columns at the teller stations is enlarged. This leads to an increased spaced required for the teller room and therefore bank personnels are hard to work in the teller room. Alternatively, when an arrangement is made such that the vertical hollow columns at the teller stations are got together around a table in the teller room while a distance between the adjacent vertical hollow columns at the customer stations is enlarged, there is necessity for causing each of the horizontally extending hollow beams to be inclined at a certain inclination angle from the transversal direction of the conveyor system as seen from the above. However, the conventional banking facility of the above-mentioned type has difficulty in smoothly transferring a deposit box from the vertical hollow column to the horizontally extending hollow beam and vice versa once the latter is arranged in the inclined state as seen from the above, resulting in frequent occurrence of incorrect operation and stoppage. Thus, the inclined type conventional banking facilities are not suitably employed for practical use.